The Star Child : A Fable by Oscar Wilde

By Oscar Wilde

Book Overview

Found in the forest and brought up by a shepherd, an exquisitely beautiful child grows into a cruel and selfish boy. He rejects his true mother and from that moment his beauty forsakes him. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0590076418
• ISBN13: 9780590076418
• Release Date: January 1979
• Publisher: Four Winds Press
• Length: 32 Pages
• Weight: 1.15 lbs.
• Age Range: 8 to 12 years
• Grade Range: Grades 3 to 7

Customer Reviews

The Star-Child learns mercy and compassion

A charming, philosophical fairy tale by Oscar Wilde about a baby boy found by a poor woodcutter in a bright and beautiful star. The woodcutter adopts the boy, who grows up extremely beautiful but also arrogant and cruel. He blinds and maims the animals of the forest, and shows no pity to those who where weakly or ill-favoured. One day he cruelly turns away a beggar-woman, who is his mother, and his beauty is turned into ugliness. He begins a quest to find his mother to beg her forgiveness. Written for older children and the young of heart , in the fine prose of Oscar Wilde.

A lesson in humanity

When a poor woodcutter finds a baby abandoned in the woods, he takes the boy home and raises him as his own. The boy grows up to be beautiful in the extreme, but also arrogant and cruel. When his mother shows up a dirty beggar, he rejects her, and is cursed by having his beauty turned to ugliness. Setting out to find his mother, and gain her forgiveness, the star-child learns a painful lesson in humility and generosity.This is a touching story written by a master storyteller. Fit for children or adults, it is a touching story with a great lesson in humanity.